I don't think this is the right approach. I realize that the principle is fundamentally the same with SOPA protests (depriving users of content to highlight the danger of this passing), but there's a more salient argument that you could make here if you really wanted.
Why not implement a loading bar that actually progressed slowly and then put a brief explanation underneath the loading bar describing the FCC "slow lane" and how it would negatively impact users?
To add insult to injury, give the user 3 options:
- pay the site owner to access the "fast lane" to your content
- send an email (to FCC chair? maybe a representative?) to voice their anger
- get used to waiting; that'll be the new norm if nobody prevents this, right?
The first option would be incredibly controversial, but would underscore how objectionable the "Slow Lane" idea even is. If anyone is stubborn enough to pay, you could funnel that money into the EFF or some other relevant organization.
The point is that just throwing people a loading screen (especially without a good explanation) will leave the user confused. Once the content loads they'll probably forget about that loading screen anyway (at least on a conscious level), so don't wait until afterward to explain what just happened.
As an aside, there was a comment that users will wait for a website that's sufficiently highly trafficked, but I don't think that's true. I remember some Google presentation[0] where an engineer explained that virtually any extra loading time was enough to discourage users from returning. Maybe that's just with search or other highly interactive sites (rather than reading a blog, for example), but I wouldn't want to test that hypothesis with any site I cared about and managed.
We're adding more explanation to the loading screen. Also, for folks who don't want to interrupt users, here's an anigif to post. http://imgur.com/PQRaxNa (putting this up on the site now)
How about something that much more closely resembles slow page loading? Pop an explainer / action callout modal while the page slowly reveals itself, something like this:
I think this gets the point across more clearly, and I'd be much more likely to install this on my sites. The fact that you're immediately giving at least some context would make me a lot less confused as a user, and the site loading in the background makes it obvious that I'm in the right place to begin with.
While you guys obviously have a message to get out (a great message), you may want to consider adding a link someone could click to get rid of the widget and load the site immediately. Imagine that you saw four sites with the widget, then emailed your congresspeople, and now you have to keep dealing with them all throughout the day even if you already took action...it'd be annoying.
Also, let's not confuse people. The target is the FCC. We want people to contact FCC and complain about their (proposed) policies. If you're going to involve brands and logos, use theirs.
Be careful -- practically speaking, using Comcast's and TWC's names/logos is more likely to attract their attention early, and will give their lawyers a stronger argument (against Github or third-party sites) to have it taken down.
I've edited to be clearer -- I'm referring to the use of Comcast's (and Time Warner's) logos, not the FCC's.
I agree that there are fair use arguments, which is why I said "practically": hosts take down fair-use content every day. A subset of that is eventually restored, but only after the parties have argued it out (frequently through their lawyers).
Think about someone visiting your site for first time. They'll just think something is wrong with your website. So it needs some context. It should say somewhere that this is a form of protest against FCC's new Internet rules. Get inspired by some of the SOPA blackout messages, like the one from Wikipedia for example, to see how it should be done right, but instead of a "black image" covering the screen, they could get the slow loading animation:
Heavily trafficked sites are already paying for a "fast lane" in the form of CDNs that cache everything but dynamic content. These CDNs already have interconnect agreements with the large ISPs (and have for years).
Interconnect agreements are different than "fast/slow lane". CDNs will need to pay a premium so that their traffic will not be slowed down, regardless of the peering agreement.
Interconnects are exactly what the "fast/slow lane" argument is about. Netflix bought interconnects from Comcast and Verizon. Just through buying interconnects to the ISPs, the CDNs ensure their traffic won't be slowed down by an intermediary like Cogent.
They're not intending to provide higher QoS for sites that pay up -- that's insane and it wouldn't work anyway.
It's my understanding that interconnect agreements solve congestion on the network by having a larger connection to infrastructure.
Fast/slow lane practices throttle that connection, regardless of how large the pipe is.
So, my small business website could be using a large internet connection that technically has plenty of bandwidth to carry my traffic but, unless I pay Comcast a premium, traffic from my website will be put in the slow lane and throttled back.
Then your understanding is incorrect (sorry; not trying to be flippant). Interconnects are the entire story here.
The media has framed a lot of the congestion issues in the context of "fast/slow lane" but what they come down to are business disagreements between the transit providers and the ISPs. The solution to these disagreements from the viewpoint of a large service provider is to purchase an interconnect directly to the ISPs. If you are a small service provider, the solution is to purchase delivery through a CDN. Netflix used to purchase delivery through CDNs until it got too expensive for their business model; so they started building their own CDN that they called "OpenConnect". They used their positive brand image in conjunction with the ISP's poor brand image to launch a PR campaign with the goal of knocking down the price they would have to pay for interconnect service. It worked; they knew they were always going to have to pay the Comcasts and Verizons of the world but they were able to talk the ISPs down a significant amount.
Strategically, it's a bad position to be in for a service provider because the ISPs can raise the price at any time (which is why Netflix has continued complaining about it). But realistically, the ISPs sit on such a strong market control point that nothing can really stop them from setting prices (common carrier status just means they have to offer the same price structure to everyone; not that they can't arbitrarily raise prices).
For some reason this seems to be the go-to "show 'em" methodology. I think people, in general, understand what slower means.
I mean this is cute but I think this might be the fourth or fifth implementation I've seen and they all have better likelihood of just annoying someone instead of educating them.
I realize a standardized alert message delivered via JS doesn't have the same "share-able" impact, but it's probably more effective overall.
I'm imagining Wikipedia's fundraising drives and whether they'd do as well if they just blurred out a large portion of every article to raise awareness versus a prominent message.
You're asking about the efficacy of passive messaging - I don't think it would work if you asked people. Likewise, I think simply doing it is more likely to annoy people than incite passion.
Visibility is the issue, not understanding the problem. I think the message of "the internet could be slower without net neutrality" is the one that needs to be delivered. People generally know what "slower" means.
As I mentioned, a standardized message would probably be more effective, but it's also not something that would be particularly exciting to share on, say, Hacker News.
I daresay annoying people is the whole point. Combine that with the logo example given upthread, and you've got a very effective campaign going on. What I see happening:
"Why do I keep getting this bloody message with Comcast's logo on it every time I hit random websites? readreadread Fucking Comcast at it again.."
Please let me know if you have any problems or feedback on the widget. I've also tried to set it up to be easy to remix and add your own slowdown animations (more info coming soon!)
Wasn't that the strategy prior to the SOPA vote when Wikipedia blacked out? It seems the strategy is more to give everyday internet users an idea of what life would be like if this was passed.
Another idea is to provide a banner with a good message and a "toggle" button for the slow lane. So users can experiemnt it, but be in control as not to harm the product experience. Maybe it's too passive?
perhaps it should be a button on the website, like "experience the site with FCC's Slow Lane".
That way, they can see what the site is like and if they choose to press the button, they can see what it is like to be on the slow lane. Otherwise, the first time visitor may not give the site a chance at all.
If it's a site you visit regularly, it's likely to make you really curious, right?
We're making a version that's just an anigif that people can embed. That should be live really soon. So, that works for people who don't want to interrupt visitors with a message.
The closing quote on the <script src"..."> tag in the "1. Add slowlane.js to Your Website" section is missing. Not really an issue, but it looks unprofessional.
The ISPs have been pretty clear about what they want: the ability to charge for fast delivery. They already have money coming in from both ends (the home subscribers as well as the companies like Netflix and Google). But hey, these guys are making money from their "pipes"! Don't they deserve a cut of that money, because, hey, pipes!
This makes about as much sense as the power company getting more money to power a PC than a lamp, or the government demanding a bigger toll if you're crossing a bridge for a vacation.
> The ISPs have been pretty clear about what they want: the ability to charge for fast delivery.
The big conglomerates that offer both internet and content services (which are the largest broadband ISPs, but this interest isn't general to ISPs, its specific to those dominant players) have been clear that they want the ability to charge anyone for anything, even if they've already charged someone else for it, but they haven't been clear about the real reason -- though the actual places where they've chosen to do this make it very clear: what they want to do is use their market power in the broadband market charge the content firms that have already built businesses in content markets that threaten the conglomerates markets a toll to compete that serves both to limit the outside content firms' ability to profit in the market and subsidizes the conglomerates own competing services. Its pure protectionism; that's the reason that the cable companies (whose bigger business is often selling consumer video services -- cable TV + premium VOD tied to cable TV and, in many cases nascently though they are far behind the "pure internet" video services, video-over-internet subscription services) main target for tolls is Netflix.
Allow this, and the ISPs will start at the top and work their way down, until they've used their tolls to take over every profitable business relying on using the internet to connect to customers.
The big cable companies have had the technical capability to deliver video over internet subscription services for years. They haven't released them widely because if they did, it would melt the Internet. Netflix doesn't care about such things because they don't own the infrastructure and aren't responsible if their service overloads the last-mile.
> The big cable companies have had the technical capability to deliver video over internet subscription services for years. They haven't released them widely because if they did, it would melt the Internet.
The big cable companies have had video-over-cable subscription services for years, and well established customer bases for them, and charge very high prices for them compared to any video-over-internet service. They haven't offered video-over-internet services because they'd be competing with themselves, and only started offering some when people started moving to third-party services. Still, they'd prefer to levy specific tolls on third party video-over-internet services so they don't have to compete and, if they decide to compete, can have their competitors foot the bill. Its a pretty classical way of leveraging market power in one market to prevent free competition in another, and it was one of the prime things that was specifically called out as a targetted concern in every version of net neutrality / open internet regulation that the FCC has issued.
I guarantee you that video-over-internet is a strategic priority for the cable companies. Currently, Comcast is limited to selling video services to customers who are connected to their cable network (about 30% of the US). They would love to expand their addressable market for video services by 70%. They've invested a ton of money into their online video platform for this reason. They haven't released it because the customer experience would suck unless there is a precedent and methodology in place for them to ensure adequate interconnect bandwidth exists.
As someone who works in the industry, that's why this whole argument feels false to me. Sure, the cable companies own the infrastructure for their customers, but there's money to be made from selling services to other customers as well. Big companies like Comcast aren't as stupid as you think: their video distribution model will likely look a lot more like Netflix in 5 years, as will the other cable/telco video companies. They're not trying to set up the rules so that Netflix fails; they're trying to set up the rules to ensure they can sell their products in the marketplace as well. How do you ensure your products don't suck? You ensure everyone in the value chain is adequately compensated (at least until you can disintermediate them).
When Comcast enters the video-over-internet market, they will have to pay for interconnects to the other ISPs. But that's fine with them; because it's a marginal cost tied to revenue. You have to tie the fixed costs of expanding infrastructure to increased revenue somehow or the economic model falls apart. That means either charging service providers by the gigabyte or charging consumers. Charging consumers would have a chilling effect on Internet commerce (just look at aggregated mobile data usage stats) so they've opted to go after the service providers.
But what does charging for fast delivery look like? I get the distinct impression that people think the ISPs plan to throttle any site that doesn't pay up; which is a gross mischaracterization of the situation. Part of the beef with Netflix is that Netflix is building a business model that disproportionately taxes the infrastructure with long-form video content. You have one service that accounts for 30-50% of bandwidth usage. That level of traffic causes havoc on transit providers, ISPs, etc. From an engineering perspective, it's better to establish direct routes because you're removing bottlenecks.
Your last statement doesn't really help your argument since the situations you describe actually happen. The power company can't really do the first because they don't have the visibility, but they do charge more per kWh for residential power, since residential peak usage occurs in the evening. In many areas toll roads and bridges are more expensive if you don't have an EZ Pass (the EZ Pass basically flags you as a resident).
It feels condescending because people don't really need an exaggerated demonstration of what the word "slow" means. I agree that people need to be made aware that what FCC is doing is going to make things slower for regular users, but this is excessive.
I still don't think that means it's condescending, but it certainly would be egregious if a large number of popular web sites did it. As far as I know, however, they aren't doing it, not even on a short-term basis.
Why not implement a loading bar that actually progressed slowly and then put a brief explanation underneath the loading bar describing the FCC "slow lane" and how it would negatively impact users?
To add insult to injury, give the user 3 options:
- pay the site owner to access the "fast lane" to your content
- send an email (to FCC chair? maybe a representative?) to voice their anger
- get used to waiting; that'll be the new norm if nobody prevents this, right?
The first option would be incredibly controversial, but would underscore how objectionable the "Slow Lane" idea even is. If anyone is stubborn enough to pay, you could funnel that money into the EFF or some other relevant organization.
The point is that just throwing people a loading screen (especially without a good explanation) will leave the user confused. Once the content loads they'll probably forget about that loading screen anyway (at least on a conscious level), so don't wait until afterward to explain what just happened.
As an aside, there was a comment that users will wait for a website that's sufficiently highly trafficked, but I don't think that's true. I remember some Google presentation[0] where an engineer explained that virtually any extra loading time was enough to discourage users from returning. Maybe that's just with search or other highly interactive sites (rather than reading a blog, for example), but I wouldn't want to test that hypothesis with any site I cared about and managed.
0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il4swGfTOSM - The "impact of slow sites" comes up early on.